Case Study of Air-Asia : Strategic Role of Information System in Business

Air Asia is established on 12 December 2001 by Mr. Tony Fernandes, the CEO of Air Asia and expanding rapidly since that. Air Asia is the leading low fare airline in Asia and Air Asia succeed to become the award winning, ‘Asia Pacific Airlines of the year 2003’ by Centre for Air Pacific Aviation (CAPA) in 2003. Air Asia has successfully positioned itself in customers’ mind by using the “ Now Everyone Can Fly” slogan. Air Asia had flown over 55 million guests across the region and continually create more extensive route network through its associate companies. Air Asia flies over 61 domestics and international destinations with 108 routes and operates over 400 flights daily from hubs located in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand with a fleet of 72 aircrafts. Air Asia’s net profit for the second quarter ending 31 December 2004 was reported RM44.4 million, a 323% increase over the Continue reading

Differences between Activity Based Costing and Activity Based Management

Activity Based Costing (ABC) Activity Based Costing was introduced as the answer for an improved full-cost product-cost calculation as the model grew into a more full-fledged costing system for hierarchies of activities and cost objects. Activity Based Costing is a two-stage procedure where cost of resources in the first stage are allocated to activities to construct Activity Cost Pools, which in second stage are allocated to cost objects based on these objects’ use of the different activities. It is also a tool for cost and performance measurement towards activities, resources and cost objects (for example products and services). Activity Based Costing is knows as a “horizontal” or cross-functional cost view and it can provide fact-based insight into the spending and profitability of products, services and customers. There are three guidelines to support cost allocation in Activity Based Costing. The first would be ‘Direct-cost tracing to product’. Trace the cost of Continue reading

Mass Production Systems

Mass production (also called flow production or repetitive flow production) is the production of large amounts of standardized products on production lines. It was popularized by Henry Ford in the early 20th Century, notably in his Ford Model T. Mass production is notable because it permits very high rates of production per worker and therefore provides very inexpensive products. Mass production is capital intensive, as it uses a high proportion of machinery in relation to workers. With fewer labor costs and a faster rate of production, capital is increased while expenditure is decreased. However the machinery that is needed to set up a mass production line is so expensive that there must be some assurance that the product is to be successful so the company can get a return on its investment. Machinery for mass production such as robots and machine presses have high installation costs. One of the descriptions Continue reading

What is Financial Leverage?

The use of fixed-charges sources of funds, such as debt and preference capital along with owner’s equity in the capital structure described as financial leverage gearing or trading on equity. The use of the term trading on equity is derived from the fact that is the owner’s equity that is used to raise debt; that is, the equity that is traded upon. Financial leverage is defined as the ability of a firm to use fixed financial charges to magnify the effect of change in E.B.I.T on the firm’s earning per share. The financial leverage occurs when a firm’s Capital Structure contain obligation of fixed financial charges. For instance, interest on debentures, dividend on preference share etc., along with owner’s equity to enhance earning of equity shareholder’s. The fixed financial charges do not vary with the operating profit. They are fixed and are to be paid irrespective of level of operating Continue reading

Challenges of Strategic Human Resource Management

Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) can be defined as a link between human resources and the strategic goals and objectives of the business. Most importantly, the aim of that is to improve business performance and to develop an organizational culture that will foster innovation, flexibility and competitive advantage. In other words, the HR function is seen as a strategic partner helping the company to implement and formulate strategies as well as reach its goals and flourish. The main activities of HR department include selecting and recruiting the right people for the job roles, training and rewarding them. Very often SHRM is being confused with HRM. SHRM has more of a long-term orientation towards objectives. It doesn’t focus on internal human resource issues; the attention is focused more on addressing and solving problems that have an effect on management programs in a long run. In other words, SHRM focuses on occurring Continue reading

Critical Evaluation of Henry Fayol’s Principles of Management

Henri Fayol was a pioneer in developing the theories of management and published the leading book, ‘14 Principles of Management’. It was one of the first books of its kind to be published about management and to this day Fayol is known as the father or modern management. Fayol was instrumental in establishing original ways for mangers to guide their employees towards being more efficient in achieving goals. He is widely considered to be one of the most important theorists of his time and some of his ideas are still applied to modern day management. The first principle hypothesized by Fayol was the one of division of labor. Fayol argued that efficiency can be maximized by distributing tasks to employees according to their specialization or by achieving specialization through repetition. This theory is applicable to businesses who have many or even few employees. The theory suggests that work should not Continue reading